• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, June 21, 2018

Are you ready to leave home without your credit cards? While most consumers would still say “no,” more and more are using their mobile devices in place of plastic.  

This year, mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) devices will be used to conduct 28 billion transactions, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

That number is set to explode over the next five years. By 2023, mPOS devices will facilitate more than 87 billion transactions, the research firm forecasts.

Of course, consumers’ increasing willingness to do just about anything with their phones is driving these numbers. But, that’s not the only factor.

For instance, the average price of an mPOS device is set to drop from $40 this year to approximately $33 by 2023, according to Juniper.

“Traditional POS manufacturers have identified mPOS as an important way to diversify revenue streams, at a time when established revenue streams are losing momentum,” according to Juniper analyst and report author Nick Maynard.

Among other regions, India is enjoying rapid growth in the number of mPOS devices available to consumers. The country will experience an average annual growth rate in device availability of 46% over the next five years, according to Jupiter.

Maynard also expects biometrics -- like fingerprint reading and face recognition -- to become an increasingly common part of mPOS offerings.

That trend is being driven by national identity schemes using biometrics -- such as Aadhar in India -- which could serve as a mechanism for card-free authentication.

By 2023, this will drive biometric-enabled mPOS devices to reach almost 2 million globally -- just under 4% of total mPOS terminals expected to be in use by then.